You and a friend are splitting the check right down the middle, and it’s time for you to tip. Do you a) Discuss the amount to leave with your friend? Or b) Tip whatever you normally would and leave it be? Well, if you’re Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm, you try and force your lunch date to tip exactly the same as you are :)

A recent episode had him and Jason Alexander (aka George Costanza) fighting over the amount to tip on a meal they agreed to split down the middle. Larry suggests they tip the same amount so that one doesn’t leave a lesser tip than the other (making that person look bad), but Jason wasn’t having it. He felt tipping was personal and wanted to leave whatever he deemed appropriate – which, of course, drove Larry all kinds of crazy. You can see a clip of it here on youtube (start at 2:02).

It’s a rather interesting predicament though, and oddly enough I was put in this EXACT same scenario 2 days after watching it! I couldn’t believe it. After a friend and I had lunch, we decided to split the bill right down the middle and she looks up and goes, “Do you think we should leave the same tip? It would look pretty weird if we didn’t, right?” Haha…I was dying, and of course told her about the show. I don’t think she found it as exciting as I did (we’re not all PF addicts), but we did agree to leave similar amounts…or at least we said we would ;)

Is there a right or wrong answer here though? Nope. Just like with everything in finance it all comes down to your own comfort level. I personally enjoy talking openly about money & tipping as I find it kills the awkwardness and allows people to share their own view points (like my 20% tipping rule), but not everyone does. When that’s the case, it’s usually best to leave things alone and do your own thing.

But what do you guys think about it? Are you cool with splitting the tip evenly if you’ve already done so with the bill? Or do you prefer to do your own thing and not discuss it? In any case, PLEASE don’t be like Larry David ;) He’s a funny man to watch on screen, but my damn he’s annoying sometimes.